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The Bench Life team are taking the gloves off for a winner-take-all prediction battle to prove once and for all (at least for now) who is most in tune with playoff hockey. Winner of the challenge gets a case of ice cold Rolling Rock beer paid for by the losers. Whoever finishes dead last will get punished in some sort of humiliating way, so stay tuned for whatever that ends up being. I had envisioned some sort of tie Goldberg to the net situation but that could potentially be too harmful. This is a classic TBD situation.

Without further ado, here are the categories for the challenge with each of our various picks.

Another round of the NHL Playoffs has come to an end, and we’re left with only two teams. In the Western Conference, the underdog Nashville Predators have been the surprise of the playoffs this year, taking down Chicago, St. Louis and Anaheim on their path to the Finals. From the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to be the first back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions since the Red Wings repeated in 1997 & 1998. They beat out Columbus, Washington and Ottawa en route to their shot at the Cup. With Game 1 set for tonight, let’s take a look at the series and I’ll tell you why the Predators are going to stun the defending champs. Read more

On Wednesday night, the second round of the NHL playoffs came to an end in one of the most exciting ways possible: not one, but TWO Game 7’s.

First, the Penguins went into Washington and shutout the Capitals on their way to another series win for Crosby over Ovechkin. After coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to tie the series at 3, the Capitals looked to head back to the Verizon Center and complete the comeback. Honestly, I was really looking forward to all the “Pittsburgh blew a 3-1 lead” jokes. And for the sake of my bracket, I was hoping that Washington would move on. However, the Penguins decided they didn’t want to be added to the list of teams to have blown a massive lead in the last year or so. Washington struggled to generate offense, Ovechkin was quiet and Marc-Andre Fleury was playing like it’s 2009, making 29 saves. Pittsburgh advanced with a 2-0 win, and will look to get ready to take on the Senators.

The second game of the night featured the young, up and coming Oilers against the older and experienced Ducks. After putting up 7 goals in Game 6, Edmonton looked to be in control of the series heading into the final game. But it turns out they should’ve saved some of those goals, because they could’ve used them in Game 7. After scoring early in the game, the Oilers offense was held in check, being held to just 3 shots in the 2nd period and 8 shots in the 3rd. Andrew Coglianio tied the game in the 2nd, Nick Ritchie scored the game winner a few minutes into the final period, and the Ducks managed to hold on for the win and will move on to play the Predators. Read more

For this 2016-17 NHL season my brother Phillip and I made a list of predictions of potential outcomes that we feel strongly about. We plan to assign points for each correct guess and the winner will get… something. We were initially going to say that the loser will buy the winner a brand new Leafs jersey, but then we realized that we are both broke. If you have any suggestions for a reward/punishment for winning/losing this challenge comment below. Some of these predictions are, dare I say, insightful. Others, I’m not going to sugar coat it, are idiotic. My picks will be marked by TW and my brother’s as PW.If anyone cares about this stuff comment below with any opinions on our picks or even comment your own picks.

Metropolitan Division
TW: Washington Capitals
PW: Philadelphia FlyersWhoomp there it is. I guess the Flyers have some scoring touch, a young blue line with a high ceiling and Steve Mason. Giddy up.Read more

Schedule

Game 1: Tuesday May 17; 8:30 @ Cleveland on Sportsnet
Game 2: Thursday May 19; 8:30 @ Cleveland on TSN
Game 3: Saturday May 21; 8:30 @ Toronto on Sportsnet
Game 4: Monday May 23; 8:30 @ Toronto on TSN
Game 5: Wednesday May 25; 8:30 @ Cleveland on TBD
Game 6: Friday May 27; 8:30 @Toronto on TBD
Game 7: Sunday May 29; 8:30 @ Cleveland on TBD

X Factors

While my brother and I watched the first round series versus Indiana, we were discussing which players were the “X-Factors” in the series. The conversation then turned into us mocking stereotypical basketball commentary by calling every player on either team’s roster an “X-Factor”. Kyle Lowry? X-Factor. Paul George? X-Factor. Miles Turner? X-Factor. James Johnson? X-Factor (#FreeJamesJohnson (Why do some Raptors fans feel the need to tweet this?)). Ty Lawson? You better believe he’s an X-Factor (also the MVP at every dispensary he frequents). Bruno Caboclo? He could be the difference. But despite the term “X-Factor” being a tired trope, I’m going to use it as a talking point to bring up themes, strategies, and key figures that have the potential to effect the series. Read more

The 2016 season is coming in hot! I’ve already dusted off the old glove (and subsequently already thrown my arm out), read as much Blue Jays content as I can, and acquired a couple of tickets for April. The only thing keeping me from total baseball mode are those pesky 50-win Raptors. I am ready for a summer of Pillar web gems, Donaldson bombs, Stroman fist pumps and Bautista bat flips. But until then I may as well fill my time with writing predictions and ignoring school work.

I’m not that big into gambling, but I feel that the Over-Under concept is a great starting point for some of my Blue Jays opinions and predictions. Essentially I take a look at various projected stats for Toronto Blue Jays players and predict whether their real numbers at year’s end is over or under the projection. For the sake of this piece, I will use FanGraphs’ Steamer Projections. At this point most people bet money on the outcome of their over-under guesses. But taking into account my aversion to taking risks (some call this “being a coward”) and my limited funds, gambling just doesn’t seem meant for me. Read more